Loom



Aug. 28, 1945. I L. J.IZERBEIE 2,383,903

LOOM

Filed July 7, 1941 Patented Aug. 28, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICELooM Louis J. Zerbee, Bellefontaine, Ohio Application July 7, 1941,Serial No. 401,333

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a loom and more particularly to a loom adaptedfor weaving spring wire into a metallic screen.

An object of this invention is to weave a' wire screen from continuouslength. wires used as the warp, so that the loom may operatecontinuously night and day without interruption normally caused bywinding the warp wires upon a warp drum.

Another object of this invention is to provide a loom that is automaticin its operation, that is easily operated, that is dependable, thatweaves steel wire into high quality metallic screen produced cheaply andefficiently.

Other objects and advantages reside in the construction of parts, thecombination thereof and the mode of operation, as will become moreapparent from the following description.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the loom assembly, together with aportion of the warp mill, with parts omitted for the sake of clearness.

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the tensioning'means and apart of the drum.

In the past, looms have been utilized for weaving screen wire from finewire that is rather soft and flexible. Heavier wire has also been woven;but in weaving heavier wireno automatic shuttle has been used. Instead,the weft has been placed in position manually in most cases. orsemi-manually. If put in by the machine or hand, it is pushed through inplace of being pulled through. Furthermore. the warp of the metallicscreen has been supplied from a drum that is periodically rewound,halting'the o eration of the loom during the rewinding of the drum. Insome cases it has been the practice ti) operate a loom about'half of thetime, the other half of the time being utilized in rewinding orrereeling the drum supplying the warp to the loom and threading the warpthrough the heddles and the reeds.

In the present embodiment. wire screen which may have approximatelyeight mesh to the inch is woven from high carbon steel wire. so as toform a metallic screen adaptable for use in the manufacture of cushionsfor steel porch furniture. as disclosed in my Patent No. 2,126.439.patented August 9. 1938. The steel wire used in weaving this metallicscreen is comparatively stiff and cannot be woven on the same type of aloom used for weaving fly screen and the like, in that the wires are tooheavy and too rigid for manipulation in such looms, 'which use bobbinson which the weft is wound.

. limited source of Warp material.

This spring screen is now woven upon a loom' that operates automaticallyand continuously, excepting for short stops to interchange weft coils,in that the warp is supplied from an un- Whenever a spool or reel ofwarp material is exhausted, another spool, having a new supply, issubstituted for the old spool by merely butt welding the ends of thewire together. The butt welded joint thus produced is not much thickerthan the regular wire, so that the welded wire is fed through the loomwithout interrupting the operation thereof The type of wire is a highcarbon manganese steel wire, that is purchased in the form of coils.These coils are first rewound upon spools wire tensioning mechanism andwrapped twice around a large drum. After encircling the drum, which drumis actuated so as to supply the wire to the loom at a proper rate ofspeed, the wires pass through a second tensioning device, through theheddles and tlie reeds.

Broadly, the loom includes warp wire feeding and manipulating means, abeater, a weft wire source of supply and tensioning device, a weft wirecrimping device, a weft feeding device. automatic shuttle drivingmechanism, beater driving mechanism and wire shippers or shears, inaddition to the usual loom structure, as modified. The structuraldetails and the operation of these r ous features have been fullydescribed in my oonending application Serial No. -287.493. filed July24. 1939, for Loom, and ripening into United States Letters Patent No.2,272.456 on February in. 942. Only the portion of the loom relating tothe warp wire feeding and manipulating means is described herein.

Wa'rpwire feeding and manipulating means Referring to the drawing, andparticularly to Figure l, the wires 20 form the warp of the web 22 thatis woven from high carbon manganese steel wire. Instead of high carbonsteel wire, any other spring wire may be used, providing it has theproper resiliency and the other requisites desirable in the manufactureof cushioning devices for use as seats and back rests in porchfurniture. chairs, seats and other resilient shock-albsoribingdevices.The wires 20 are supplied to the'loom from spools 24, there being onespool 24 for each wire .of'the warp. These spools 24 are spoolsubstituted therefor.

removably mounted in a pair of racks 26, only one of which has beenshown. These racks 26 are arranged to the rear of the loom and extend inparallel relation. Furthermore, the amount of wire on each spooldifiers, so that the wire from one spool alone becomes exhausted at onetime. When the wire "on one spool is nearly exhausted, the spool isremoved fro-m the rack 26 and. a new The end of the wire on the oldspool and the free end of the'wire on the new spool are butt welded. In'Figure 1 the gripper jaws or terminals I20 are used to schematicallyillustrate the electric terminals of a butt-welding device.

One pair of terminals I engages the trailing end 20a of th wire in 'l fithe loom and the other pair of terminals l20 en gages the leading end2617 of the wire of anew spool that is being substituted for anexhausted By mounting the spools'in-twd rackstandmounting the racks inspaced relation from each'other at the rear of thel'oo'm, a path isformed between the wires passing from the spools to the loom, whichpermits the attendant to replace or substitute new spools as the oldones. are exhausted.

The wires 20 constituting thewarp are passed through a tensioning devicethat includes a plurality of transverselydisposed bars, andtensio-ningIbar 3|, cooperatingwith a tensioning member 32 clampd inpositiom-bygsuitable adjusting screws 34 to tension the wire as itadvances from the spools. From the bars 30 and the tensioning member 32,veach wire is wrapped twice around the drum 36 and then through a secondtensioning device including transversely disposed bars 38 and a pair oftensioning members 40 and 41 clamped in position by screwsv 42; The drum36 is driven through a chain of gears 44; :onl one gear of WhlCh'lSshown, from a suitable source of, power not-shown. I 1

The tensioning member 30, 3|, 32, 38,40 and 4! are mounted in closeproximity tothe drum. These tensiom'ng members function as guides forthe wires, preventing the wires from; creeping on the drunn-in spite ofthe fact thatthe drum is coated with an abrasive material; Thiscausesanend'wise thrust of the drum, which is resisted by the frame of theloom.. j

The driving mechanism .is so angular displacement .of theldrtun duringeach cycle of operation of thel omLis equal to the length-of wireextending betvveenjthe centers of the weft wires; If, for, example,aneight mesh screen is woven, that is, eight meshes to the inch, theperiphery of the drum is rotated approximately one-eighth of arrinchduringeachcycle of the operation of the loom. ,The warp. wires beingwrapped twice around thedrum and properly tensionedare advanced adistance equal to the peripheral movement of the drum. The doublewrapping of each wire 20 about the drum creates sufiicientsurfacefriction so as to cause the wires to move inunison with the drum, nofaster and no slower. The mechanism of the loom will, of course, tend topull the wires away from the 'drum,'as will appear more fully later Thewires forming the warp ofthe welb advance from the transversely disposedbars-38 through two groups of heddles 54 and 56. --Thef heddles 54and'56; as is well known to those skilled in the art, are supported'by aflexible chain, cable or other suitableflexiblemember 58,- extendingarranged that the Beater Thus far the. portion of the loom and partsassociated therewith are used primarilyfin supplying the warp wires. Inaddition to the warp wires, it is necessary to supply the weft wires inproper relation with respect to the manipulation of the warp wires. Dueto the rigidity and the stiffness ofthe spring wire used, it isnecessary to form or crimp the weft wire before it is woven -'irito thematerial; Th'e warp wires need not be crimped, as the separation of thewarp wires to forn'i the shed, in cooperation with the operation of :thebeatenautomatically crimps or forms the warp wires. The crimping-me'chanismfor the weft'wire, the severing device andth'e automatic Weftfeeding'devioe are allass'o'cia'ted with and mounted'upon' the beaterframe. l

The standards 10 support a transversely, dis-' .posedzshaftMIL-supporting a'pair of rocker arm's I02, only one of which igshown.These rocker arms I02 support a pair of angle irons l06-and' .108transversely 'disposed "with respect to the loom. These angle ironssupport the reed ele ments H0; shown schematically, forming the beater;There is one reed element between each pair of adjacent warp wires. if

j Beater satay meat-mar The beatertwhich includes a plurality of reeds II0 panning the .distance' between 'angleirons I06 and I08, is actuatedthrouglra pair: of links 402, onlyone ofwhich is shown inFigure1,-havingtheir forward endspivotally attached to the upright membersI02-and the rear ends-attached to a pairof crank-arm 404, one oneach-end of the shaft 406-journa1led in the frame of the loom and driveninsynchronism-with the shaft 16.

The shaft 406 rotates at twicethe speed of the shaftIB, astheshaft-16rotates once for one complete cycle of the operation"oftheloom, during which cycle the beater reciprocates twice; so as toposition two sueceedingweft wires; as is well known to those skilledin--the,art.

As the beater reciprocatesto position the weft wires in the shed, thebeater exerts a pull upon the warp wires, So as'to pull: the -warp wiresthrough the second ,tensioningmechanism located between the beater andthe-drumfifir :Thus, it

is seen that there is-one tensioning device, in

cludingmembers 3! and 312 that tensions the" warp wires before th'e warpwiresadvance to the drum and there is a second tensioning device thattensions the wiresafte'r they leave the drum.

7 Mode of operdiionfje I .After the warp wires have been properly:threaded or-strung through the loom and a coil of weft wire-hasbeenmounted inposition with an end projecting .throughtheprimping rollers,

the driving motor which has not, been shown,

may be started. This motor drivesthedrum 36 at 'a rate of speedcompatible with the mesh of the screen to-be- Woven. Asthe surface ofthedrum 36 may be-ofmetalo of wood, slippage of tho warp wires is preventedby suitable abrasive or friction producing means.- The abrasive :ma-

7o terial may be applied by covering-the periphery lengths, so that thewarp wires become exhausted at different times. When the warp wire onone spool is practically exhausted, the remaining .por-

tion of the warp wire is unwound, the spool is removed, a new spoolinserted and the end of the wire of the exhausted spool and the end ofthe wire of the new spool are butt welded, with out stopping the loomand without interrupting the operation thereof. As far as the warp wiresare concerned, the loom may operate continuously without interruption,the butt weld being of such dimensions that it will pass through theloom without interference.

Instead of rewinding the steel wire upon spools or ribbons, the coils ofwire as received from the factory may be inserted'upon proper dispensingreels or supports, ther being one coil for each warp wire.

Although the preferred modification of the device has been described, itwill be understood that within the purview of this invention variouschanges may be made in the form, the combination thereof and mode ofoperation, which generally stated consist in a device capable ofcarrying out the objects set forth as disclosed and defined in theappended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A wire feeding mechanism for use in a loom having a beater, said wirefeeding mechanism including a drum mounted for rotation, means forrotating said drum so that its upper surface moves in the-same directionas the warp wires are fed, means for supplying relatively stiff carbonsteel wires to the drum, each warp wire being wound at least twicearound the periphery of the drum, and tension means for the wires, saidtension means being located betweenthe drum and the beater of the loom.

2. A wire feeding mechanism for use in a loom having a beater, said wirefeeding mechanism including a drum mounted for rotation, means forrotating said drum so that its upper surface moves in the same directionas the warp wires are fed, means for supplying relatively stiff carbon.steel wires to the drum, each warp wire being wound at least twicearound the periphery of the drum, and a pair of tensioning means for thewires, one of said tensioning means being located between the wiresupplying means and the drum, and the other tensioning means beinglocated between the drum and the beater of the loom.

, 3. In a loo-m for weaving a metallic screen from continuous lengthwarpwires obtained by butt weldin the trailing end of one spool to the freeend of another, the combination including a plurality of supports, aplurality of spools mounted upon said supports, there being one spoolfor each warp wire, said spools having unequal lengths of warp wire,means for releasably supporting the spools on said supports so that asthe wire on one spool becomes exhausted another spool with a freshsupply of warp wire may be substituted for the exhausted spool, thetrailing end of the wire from the exhausted spool being butt welded tothe free end of the substituted spool, and wire feeding means forpositively feeding the warp wires from the spools to the loom, said wirefeeding means including a drum around which each warp wire is wouund atleast twice, means for drivingthe drum so that its upper surface movesin the same direction as the warp wires are fed, each warp wire beingwound at least twice around the periphery of the drum,

and tension means for the wires, said tension means being locatedbetween-the drum and the beater of the loom.

4. In a loom for weaving a metallic screen from continuous length warpwires, the combination includin a plurality of coils of warp wiresobtained by butt welding the trailing end of one spool to the free endof another, means for releasably supporting the coils so that as thewire of one coil becomes exhausted another coil with a fresh supply ofwarp wire may be substituted for the exhausted coil, the trailing end ofthe wire from the exhausted coil being butt welded to the free end ofthe substituted coil, wire feeding means for positively feeding the warpwires from the coils to the loom in synchronism with the operationthereof, said last mentioned means including a drum mounted forrotation, means for driving the drum so that its upper surface moves inthe same direction as the warp wires 'arefed, each warp wire being woundat least twice around the periphery of the drum, and tension means forthe wires, said tension means being located between the drum and beaterof the loom.

LOUIS J. ZERBEE.

. CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION. Patent No. 2, 8 ,903. August as, 191

. LOUIS J. ZERBEE.

It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correctiori as follows: Page5,"'f'irst column. line for "ribbons" read --b0bbins--;' and. that thesaid Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that thecame may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 29th da of January, A. p. i9b,6.

.Les'lie Frazer (Seal) Firs t Assistant'commissi-onez of Patents.

